10:19 a.m. (AP) -- Exhausted firefighters and wildfire refugees are looking forward to today's diminishing winds after days of ferocious Santa Ana's stoked 16 California wildfires.
Wind advisories expire at noon.
The Santa Ana wind siege started Sunday and sent a blowtorch of flame through communities from Santa Barbara and Malibu to the Mexico border.
The destruction is breathtaking: 410,000 acres, or about 640 square miles, burned, half-a-million people evacuated, 1,300 homes destroyed and damage exceeding 100 million dollars.
At least 45 injuries, 21 of them to firefighters, have been reported.
One person was killed by the flames, and the San Diego medical examiner's officer listed four other deaths as connected to the blazes.
The welcome forecast of lower temperatures and lighter winds will be accompanied by an injection of additional fire crews and equipment from other states.
Frustration over the firefighting effort erupted yesterday when a fire official said not enough had been done to protect homes.
Orange County Fire Chief Chip Prather told reporters that firefighters' lives were threatened because too few crews were on the ground. He said a quick deployment of aircraft could have corralled a massive blaze near Irvine.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger dismissed the criticism when questioned by an ABC News reporter.
The governor says -- 34ing now -- "Anybody that is complaining about the planes just wants to complain because there's a bunch of nonsense."
Schwarzenegger says plenty of planes have been ready but it's been too windy to fly in many cases.
Last night, a new round of mandatory evacuations was ordered in the San Diego County communities of Fallbrook and Julian, an area devastated by a 2003 wildfire.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff toured the Qualcomm Stadium evacuation center yesterday. He says he's optimistic slackening winds will allow a greater aerial assault and help firefighters beat back the most destructive blazes.
